Travel firms use ChatGPT for complaints and negative online reviews

Responding to indignant customers is considered one of the toughest parts of her job, Natasha said.

Finding the best words and expressing the suitable level of remorse – especially when the hotel will not be at fault (read: rain complaints) – is a laborious and time-consuming process, said the director of a five-star resort, who asked about it, using CNBC not their real name to guard the name of the resort.

But now she has a secret weapon: generative AI.

Natasha inserts a traveler's criticism into ChatGPT and asks the chatbot to put in writing a response.

She said a task that will easily take her an hour was accomplished “in two seconds.”

Despite its shortcomings, ChatGPT does a “pretty good job” of responding to customer complaints, Natasha said.

“One [response] was much better than what I would have done,” she said. But “it needs to be checked…you have to read through it.”

The answers are mostly “cheesy” and full of adjectives, she said. Still, “they get to the purpose: 'We're sorry, we wish we could have done something, we'll do higher'.”

They also address any complaint raised by a traveler.

“It’s hard to write these letters; you have to go through them line by line,” she said. “You wouldn’t be doing the person justice if you didn’t respond to everything on the list… the AI ​​does that really well.”

But best of all, artificial intelligence isn't defensive like humans, Natasha said.

“The AI ​​takes out all the emotions. Maybe people were ass—–,” she said. “It does not matter.”

Responding to negative online reviews is even tougher, Natasha said, because they’re so public.

Research also shows that firms that don't reply to online reviews, even positive ones, can damage their brand fame.

Ranking U.S. hotel chains based on their “online reputation,” technology company SOCi found that a driving factor behind low reviews was “ghosting” – the failure to reply to traveler reviews.

The have to continuously monitor and reply to online feedback is one reason why the travel industry's use of generative AI for “reputation management” is value an estimated $1.3 billion, in response to a report from travel market research firm Skift Year 2023.

Not only can large language models track web sites where travel reviews appear — from TripAdvisor to Yelp to Reddit — they may help firms “respond to reviews, especially negative ones,” says the report, titled “The impact of generative AI on travel,” Conditions.

About 45% of hotels already use reputation or review management software, it said.

But short-term tenants also use AI for these purposes, said Luca Zambello, the CEO of the short-term rental property management platform Jurny.

“The short-term rental/Airbnb industry was an early adopter,” he said. “I would say within the next five years it will probably be adopted by the vast majority of the industry.”

He said responding to reviews is time-consuming, which is considered one of the explanations his company offers the service.

“The majority of our users absolutely love it,” he said. “Companies really take it for granted when they see how good it is.”

Using AI to write remorseful responses is a taboo subject in the travel industry, which prides itself on personal service. Conventional wisdom has also long held that apologies must “come from the heart.”

When asked if she wanted travelers to know that she uses AI to respond to negative emails and reviews, Natasha replied: “I definitely don’t. I want people to think that I’m sitting there struggling with their letter.”

One company that uses AI to handle customer complaints is the travel booking platform Voyaguwhich stores past customer communications to help travel advisors with future interactions, a company representative said.

“Travel advisors always respond to customers themselves, but Voyagu’s AI system tracks all communications – both written and verbal – and suggests a better way to respond,” she said.

Brad Birnbaum, CEO of the AI-powered customer service company CUSTOMERSsaid technology of this kind is being used “not just in the hospitality industry, but in really all forms of customer service.”

His company, which counts Priceline, Hopper and AvantStay among its customers, uses AI to help customer service agents appear more professional, he said.

“We're going to take really rough text and turn it into elegant, insightful text,” he said.

According to Birnbaum, customers are likely unaware that their interactions with agents are being generated or improved by AI.

“And I don’t think they would care,” he said. “In fact, I think they probably welcome an agent system because it gives them a better answer more quickly.”

Michael Friedman, CEO of the family-run vacation rental company Simple hospitalitysaid his company does not use AI to respond to customers.

“We never write an email with AI,” he said. “There is still a personal element to the ‘tone of voice’ that I think AI is missing.”…I believe there is nothing better than the human touch.”

Wanping Aw, managing director of the Japanese travel agency Tokudaw, said she never thought of using AI to respond to customer complaints. However, after learning that this was the case with other travel companies, she decided to test ChatGPT with a real-world problem she recently faced.

She typed: “Our guests are traveling to Mount Fuji. The engine of her bus just started smoking. They are scared and desperate to know what will happen to their itinerary. What should we do?”

The result? “PRETTY AMAZING!” she told CNBC via email. “ChatGPT suggested exactly what we did!”

The chatbot provided a six-step plan that included evacuating travelers and arranging alternative transportation.

“It’s actually better,” she said. “ChatGPT provided a good solution – better than my expectations – and also a great apology letter that I couldn’t have written in such stressful situations.”